Text-book of the principles and practice of nursing

1922·34.3 MB·English

by  Harmer, Bertha

——IiLm——^nntijttl.
Presented to
West Virginia University i
School of Nursing Library
by
Ora Campion^ R, N. 1
and
Katherine Campion, R. N. ,
In memory of their sister.
Frances M. Campion, R. N.
A
nurse for thirty years.
>* i O l.jJ
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
LYRASIS IVIembers and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/textbookofprinciharm
TEXT-BOOK OF
THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
OF NURSING
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
KBWYOARTKLA•NBTOAST•OSNAN• CFHRIACNACGIOSC•ODAIXAfl
MACMILLAN & CO.. Limited
LONDON •MEBLOBMBOAUYRN•ECALCUT"
THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA, Ltd.
TOKOMTO
;
TEXT-BOOK
OF THE
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE
OF NURSING
BY
BERTHA HARMER,
B.Sc. (g°NivERsm), R.N.
InstructorofTheory and Practical Nursing, and SupervisorofNurses, theToronto
GeneralHospital Training School for Nurses, Toronto, Canada, 1913-1915
InstructorofTheoryand Associate Instructor of Practical Nursing,
St. Luke's Hospital Training School for Nurses, New York,
1918-1923; Assistant Professor, Yale University School
ofNursing, 1923- ; FirstAssistant Superintend-
ent of Nurses. New Haven Hospital, 1923-
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1927
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1922,
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set and electrotyped. Published April, 1922. Re
printed October, 1924; March, September, October,
1925; March, June, October, 1926. February, 1927.
April, 1927.
Printed in the United States of America
BT ThK COENWAIiL PBBSS
—
PREFACE
The aim of this book is first to impress upon the student the
fundamental principles of nursing, founded upon the ideals of
service, its object being not only to help cure the sick and heal the
wounded but to bring health and ease, rest and comfort to the
suffering mind and body. Secondly, to emyhasize the underlying
principles of each practical procedure or treatment in addition
to giving the method of procedure or technique. Only by a
thorough education along these lines can the student reap the
full richness from her profession or give to the patient the sympa-
thetic, intelligent and skilled care necessary to his welfare and
recovery.
The text covers the fundamentals in nursing, namely, the nurs-
ing care and treatments used in general medicine and surgery
which are usually taught in the first and early part of the second
year, the rest of the student's training being devoted to the spe-
cial l3ranches of nursing. The nursing care and treatments used
in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat are also fully dis-
cussed, because such care is frequently required in the general
care of patients.
The technique given is based not on that of any one hospital
but on underlying principles so it may be adapted to any condi-
tion or field of nursing, private or public, and to any hospital
without interfering with one already established.
The writer has attempted to give, in one volume, the results
of a rather long and varied experience in teaching both theoretical
subjects and practical nursing in the classroom and in the wards
of more than one hospital as head nurse, supervisor, or instructor,
together with a wealth of material drawn from numerous refer-
ence books to which the average pupil does not have access.
The text is presented from the teaching standpoint. The ma-
terial is divided into elementary and advanced nursing and an
effort has been made to follow an order, used in most hospitals,
which will not only meet the needs in the ward but will carry
the student along in a logical order from the simple to the more
difficult procedures which require not only more skill but a
wider knowledge and experience.
The material is also divided into the two main divisions,
the nursing care and treatments used in medical diseases and
those used in surgical diseases. This is the natural division of
diseases which the nurse meets both in private nursing and in
the hospital, since in private nursing a patient is in the care
either of a physician or surgeon and in the hospital is nursed in
PREFACE
vi
either a medical or surgical ward. Lectures to students in medi-
cal diseases are given by a physician, those in surgical diseases
by a surgeon. It is hoped that this order of presentation will
help in correlating the classes in practical nursing with the
various lectures given and with the experience of the students on
the wards. Also that it will eliminate much time, energy, and
distraction in note-taking so that more time may be devoted to
reports and discussions of the actual life on the wards. It is
also very important that the study of practical nursing should-,
as far as possible, keep pace with the study of the various
sciences.
Particular attention has been given to the illustrations, 154 in
number, consisting of photographs, diagrams and cuts.
The writer is greatly indebted to Miss Isabelle Stewart, Pro-
fessor of Nursing and Health, Teachers College, and to Miss
Evelyn Carling, B.S. (Teachers College), Assistant Directress of
Nurses, St. Luke's Hospital, New York, for reading the manu-
script and for the very valuable criticisms given. I am also
indebted to the various authors mentioned in the text, to Willard
Bartlett, A.M., M.D., F.A.C.S., author of "After-treatment of
Surgical Patients," to Frank Sherman Meara, M.D,, Ph.D.,
author of "The Treatment of Acute Infectious Diseases," and to
Miss Dorothy Reynolds, St. Luke's Hospital, for the original
drawings in the chapter on bandaging.